Burkina Faso’s Prime Minister Albert Ouedraogo Tuesday visited the country’s first own pharmaceuticals manufacturing facility, which will make low-cost generic versions of popular drugs such as paracetamol.
Built with private funding on a 1.5-hectare (3.7-acre) site in Komsilga, on the outskirts of the capital, the Propharm plant will ensure the “permanent availability of the medicines most in demand”, officials said.
It will begin by producing in the next few months medicines such as paracetamol and a rehydration salts kit for treating diarrhoea, managing director Armel Coefe said.
“Our production capacity currently meets local needs and will resolve the problem of drastic supply cuts,” Coefe said.
Premier Ouedraogo said the plant was “important in that it will help make low-cost medicines available to the population”.
“During the period of the Covid-19 pandemic, these were pertinent questions and everyone recognised the need to build up local production of medicines,” he said.